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23they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.”

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Apostle's Integrity. (a.
d. 56.)

10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I
seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the
servant of Christ. 11 But I certify you, brethren, that the
gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12 For I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by
the revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For ye have heard of my
conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond
measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: 14
And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own
nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my
fathers. 15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from
my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, 16 To
reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen;
immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: 17 Neither
went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I
went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. 18 Then
after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode
with him fifteen days. 19 But other of the apostles saw I
none, save James the Lord's brother. 20 Now the things which
I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. 21
Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; 22
And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judæa which were in
Christ: 23 But they had heard only, That he which persecuted
us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
24 And they glorified God in me.

What Paul had said more generally, in the
preface of this epistle, he now proceeds more particularly to
enlarge upon. There he had declared himself to be an apostle of
Christ; and here he comes more directly to support his claim to
that character and office. There were some in the churches of
Galatia who were prevailed with to call this in question; for those
who preached up the ceremonial law did all they could to lessen
Paul's reputation, who preached the pure gospel of Christ to the
Gentiles: and therefore he here sets himself to prove the divinity
both of his mission and doctrine, that thereby he might wipe off
the aspersions which his enemies had cast upon him, and recover
these Christians into a better opinion of the gospel he had
preached to them. This he gives sufficient evidence of,

I. From the scope and design of his
ministry, which was not to persuade men, but God, &c.
The meaning of this may be either that in his preaching the gospel
he did not act in obedience to men, but God, who had called him to
this work and office; or that his aim therein was to bring persons
to the obedience, not of men, but of God. As he professed to act by
a commission from God; so that which he chiefly aimed at was to
promote his glory, by recovering sinners into a state of subjection
to him. And as this was the great end he was pursuing, so,
agreeably hereunto, he did not seek to please men. He did
not, in his doctrine, accommodate himself to the humours of
persons, either to gain their affection or to avoid their
resentment; but his great care was to approve himself to God. The
judaizing teachers, by whom these churches were corrupted, had
discovered a very different temper; they mixed works with faith,
and the law with the gospel, only to please the Jews, whom they
were willing to court and keep in with, that they might escape
persecution. But Paul was a man of another spirit; he was not so
solicitous to please them, nor to mitigate their rage against him,
as to alter the doctrine of Christ either to gain their favour or
to avoid their fury. And he gives this very good reason for it,
that, if he yet pleased men, he would not be the servant of
Christ. These he knew were utterly inconsistent, and that no
man could serve two such masters; and therefore, though he would
not needlessly displease any, yet he dared not allow himself to
gratify men at the expense of his faithfulness to Christ. Thus,
from the sincerity of his aims and intentions in the discharge of
his office, he proves that he was truly an apostle of Christ. And
from this his temper and behaviour we may note, 1. That the great
end which ministers of the gospel should aim at is to bring men to
God. 2. That those who are faithful will not seek to please men,
but to approve themselves to God. 3. That they must not be
solicitous to please men, if they would approve themselves faithful
servants to Christ. But, if this argument should not be thought
sufficient, he goes on to prove his apostleship,

II. From the manner wherein he received the
gospel which he preached to them, concerning which he assures them
(v. 11, 12) that
he had it not by information from others, but by revelation from
heaven. One thing peculiar in the character of an apostle was that
he had been called to, and instructed for, this office immediately
by Christ himself. And in this he here shows that he was by no
means defective, whatever his enemies might suggest to the
contrary. Ordinary ministers, as they receive their call to preach
the gospel by the mediation of others, so it is by means of the
instruction and assistance of others that they are brought to the
knowledge of it. But Paul acquaints them that he had his knowledge
of the gospel, as well as his authority to preach it, directly from
the Lord Jesus: the gospel which he preached was not after man;
he neither received it of man, nor was he taught it by man, but
by immediate inspiration, or revelation from Christ himself. This
he was concerned to make out, to prove himself an apostle: and to
this purpose,

1. He tells them what his education was,
and what, accordingly, his conversation in time past had been,
v. 13, 14.
Particularly, he acquaints them that he had been brought up in the
Jewish religion, and that he had profited in it above many his
equals of his own nation—that he had been exceedingly
zealous of the traditions of the elders, such doctrines and
customs as had been invented by their fathers, and conveyed down
from one generation to another; yea, to such a degree that, in his
zeal for them, he had beyond measure persecuted the church of
God, and wasted it. He had not only been a rejecter of the
Christian religion, notwithstanding the many evident proofs that
were given of its divine origin; but he had been a persecutor of it
too, and had applied himself with the utmost violence and rage to
destroy the professors of it. This Paul often takes notice of, for
the magnifying of that free and rich grace which had wrought so
wonderful a change in him, whereby of so great a sinner he was made
a sincere penitent, and from a persecutor had become an apostle.
And it was very fit to mention it here; for it would hence appear
that he was not led to Christianity, as many others are, purely by
education, since he had been bred up in an enmity and opposition to
it; and they might reasonably suppose that it must be something
very extraordinary which had made so great a change in him, which
had conquered the prejudices of his education, and brought him not
only to profess, but to preach, that doctrine, which he had before
so vehemently opposed.

2. In how wonderful a manner he was turned
from the error of his ways, brought to the knowledge and faith of
Christ, and appointed to the office of an apostle, v. 15, 16. This was not done
in an ordinary way, nor by ordinary means, but in an extraordinary
manner; for, (1.) God had separated him hereunto from his
mother's womb: the change that was wrought in him was in
pursuance of a divine purpose concerning him, whereby he was
appointed to be a Christian and an apostle, before he came into the
world, or had done either good or evil. (2.) he was called by
his grace. All who are savingly converted are called by the
grace of God; their conversion is the effect of his good pleasure
concerning them, and is effected by his power and grace in them.
But there was something peculiar in the case of Paul, both in the
suddenness and in the greatness of the change wrought in him, and
also in the manner wherein it was effected, which was not by the
mediation of others, as the instruments of it, but by Christ's
personal appearance to him, and immediate operation upon him,
whereby it was rendered a more special and extraordinary instance
of divine power and favour. (3.) He had Christ revealed in
him. He was not only revealed to him, but in him. It will but
little avail us to have Christ revealed to us if he is not also
revealed in us; but this was not the case of Paul. It pleased God
to reveal his Son in him, to bring him to the knowledge of
Christ and his gospel by special and immediate revelation. And,
(4.) It was with this design, that he should preach him among the
heathen; not only that he should embrace him himself, but preach
him to others; so that he was both a Christian and an apostle by
revelation.

3. He acquaints them how he behaved himself
hereupon, from v. 16,
to the end. Being thus called to his work and office, he
conferred not with flesh and blood. This may be taken more
generally, and so we may learn from it that, when God calls us by
his grace, we must not consult flesh and blood. But the meaning of
it here is that he did not consult men; he did not apply to any
others for their advice and direction; neither did he go up to
Jerusalem, to those that were apostles before him, as though he
needed to be approved by them, or to receive any further
instructions or authority from them: but, instead of that, he
steered another course, and went into Arabia, either as a
place of retirement proper for receiving further divine
revelations, or in order to preach the gospel there among the
Gentiles, being appointed to be the apostle of the Gentiles; and
thence he returned again to Damascus, where he had first
begun his ministry, and whence he had with difficulty escaped the
rage of his enemies, Acts
ix. It was not till three years after his
conversion that he went up to Jerusalem, to see Peter; and
when he did so he made but a very short stay with him, no more than
fifteen days; nor, while he was there, did he go much into
conversation; for others of the apostles he saw none, but James,
the Lord's brother. So that it could not well be pretended that
he was indebted to any other either for his knowledge of the gospel
or his authority to preach it; but it appeared that both his
qualifications for, and his call to, the apostolic office were
extraordinary and divine. This account being of importance, to
establish his claim to this office, to remove the unjust censures
of his adversaries, and to recover the Galatians from the
impressions they had received to his prejudice, he confirms it by a
solemn oath (v. 20),
declaring, as in the presence of God, that what he had said was
strictly true, and that he had not in the least falsified in what
he had related, which, though it will not justify us in solemn
appeals to God upon every occasion, yet shows that, in matters of
weight and moment, this may sometimes not only be lawful, but duty.
After this he acquaints them that he came into the regions of
Syria and Cilicia: having made this short visit to Peter, he
returns to his work again. He had no communication at that time
with the churches of Christ in Judea, they had not so much
as seen his face; but, having heard that he who persecuted them
in times past now preached the faith which he once destroyed, they
glorified God because of him; thanksgivings were rendered by
many unto God on that behalf; the very report of this mighty change
in him, as it filled them with joy, so it excited them to give
glory to God on the account of it.